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The Hospitality Industry in the 21st Century

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Tourism, Culture, and Heritage".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2020) | Viewed by 50503

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Alexandros Apostolakis

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Guest Editor

Department of Business Administration, Technological Educational Institute (TEI) of Crete, 1 Athitaki Str., Estavromenos, Heraklion, 71004 Crete, Greece
Interests: tourism marketing and management; cultural heritage resources; modelling choice behaviour
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Shabbar Jaffry

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Guest Editor

Economics and Finance Subject Group, Faculty of Business and Law University of Portsmouth, Richmond Building, Portland Street, PO1 3DE, Portsmouth, England
Interests: Price and market (commodities and financial) analysis; efficiency and productivity analysis; modelling stated preferences choice behaviour

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is our pleasure to extend this invitation to potentially interested researchers in the field of hospitality and tourism. In the recent past, the traditional hospitality sector worldwide has experienced a number of challenges affecting its operations. These challenges include inter alia, increased competition from other|alternative sources of hospitality services (namely airbnb), changing consumer preferences (for example increased consumer awareness for the environment and greener production processes, as well as a greater drive towards personalised and interconnected experiences (Gretzel et al. 2015, Neuhofer et al. 2015), a faster pace of technological innovation (and the resulting challenges it presents in reaching out to more diverse audiences and markets).

Although these challenges have been addressed comprehensively in the tourism literature, yet there are a number of factors that require further examination within a hospitality context. However, the recent literature in the hospitality field is encompassing all these forces within the smart hotels concept. According to Gretzel et al. (2015) smart hotels are essentially the common place where all these abovementioned factors and developments have managed to find an outlet of manifestation. In addition to that, a considerable number of scholars (Gretzel 2011, Randhawa et al., 2017) emphasise the point that smart hotels are now providing the opportunity to visitors to engage and interact in a more dynamic way with the hotel micro environment (machines, man – made resources as well as humans) in order to improve satisfaction and add value.

From a researcher’s and a practitioner’s perspective, the abovementioned strategic challenges emerge as fundamental situational problems for hospitality firms, that require solutions in order for hospitality firms to add value to their operations. Thus, it is essential for researchers and practitioners alike to identify and recommend practical ways and approaches through which the hospitality sector could respond to these challenges as we move further into the 21^st century. In other words, researchers and practitioners would have to identify strategies and approaches that would allow hotels to adapt to the challenges posed ahead.

The current call for papers seeks for contributions (either theoretical or applied in nature) to examine, discuss and evaluate the challenges facing the hospitality sector. The current Special Issue aims to provide a comprehensive guide for managers, practitioners, decision makers as well as academics working in the field, on how best to prepare for the future.

The Special Issue addresses (not exclusively) the following issues:

Smart hotels
Technological innovations
Visitor | Consumer Preferences
Interactivity in a hospitality setting
Competitive practices in hospitality
Environmental Sustainability

However, other proposals in relevant areas or issues within hospitality are also welcomed.

References

Neuhofer B., Buhalis D., Ladkin A. Smart Technologies for Personalised Experiences: A Case Study in the Hospitality Domain. Electronic Markets 2015, 25 (3), 243–254.

Gretzel U., Sigala M., Xiang Z., Koo C. Smart Tourism: Foundations and Developments. Electronic Markets 2015, 25 (3), 179–188.

Gretzel U. Intelligent Systems in Tourism. A Social Science Perspective. Annals of Tourism Research 2011,38 (3), 757–779.

Randhawa P., Kim M., Cichy R. Service Innovations: What the Managers Believe and What the Customers Say. Journal of Hospitality Marketing and Management 2017, 26 (2), 186–206.

Dr. Alexandros Apostolakis
Prof. Dr. Shabbar Jaffry
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 736 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Unraveling the Effects of Ethical Leadership on Knowledge Sharing: The Mediating Roles of Subjective Well-Being and Social Media in the Hotel Industry

by Misbah Hayat Bhatti, Umair Akram, Muhammad Hasnat Bhatti, Hassan Rasool and Xin Su

Sustainability 2020, 12(20), 8333; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12208333 - 10 Oct 2020

Cited by 34 | Viewed by 5102

Abstract

Given the pivotal function of ethical leadership (EL) in the hospitality industry, this study explains how moral guidance can help to reduce mental stress. The modern complex and hectic working style of organizations demands ethical conduct, in order to sustain the positive behavior of employees for knowledge sharing (KS). For this reason, in this study, we restrict our awareness to the usage of social media (SM) for social identity and aspects of subjective well-being (SWB) for happiness intensity. The time-lag method is applied for data collection from 406 supervisors and subordinates of the hotel industry in Pakistan. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and bootstrapping are utilized to scan the data. The results of the current study demonstrate that ethical leadership provides motivational strength for knowledge sharing amongst employees. Moreover, the serial mediation effects of subjective well-being and social media boost knowledge sharing by the induction of ethical values. Our findings indicate that knowledge sharing is an important product of subjective well-being and social media. Therefore, we recommend that managers focus on ethical leadership values and employee well-being (e.g., life satisfaction), as well as highlight the individuality of employees to promote knowledge sharing. The presented research adds to the literature by establishing a new connection between ethical leadership and knowledge sharing by opening the black box of contextual (i.e., ethical leadership) and developmental (i.e., subjective well-being and social media) factors. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Hospitality Industry in the 21st Century)

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17 pages, 298 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Examination of Individual Preferences for Green Hotels in Crete

by Alexandros Apostolakis, Shabbar Jaffry and Markos Kourgiantakis

Sustainability 2020, 12(20), 8294; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12208294 - 09 Oct 2020

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 1994

Abstract

The hospitality sector is experiencing a massive transformation currently. Hotels are currently receiving considerable criticism over their practices concerning energy, environmental, as well as resource management. As a result, managerial practices in the hospitality sector have come under scrutiny. All these developments have given rise to the concept of the ‘smart’ hotel. The smart hotel concept has received considerable attention in the relevant literature in the last few years. However, the majority of this attention has either focused on the technical side (i.e., examining smart hotels from a technological standards perspective), or adopted a rather limited perspective, choosing to focus on specific managerial practices within smart hotels (i.e., environmental management). The current paper aims to address this gap in the literature through the utilization of stated preferences discrete choice modeling methodology. Through this methodology, the paper evaluates tourists’ preferences for a wider range of managerial practices and policies pertaining to smart practices in the hospitality sector. According to the empirical findings, tourists exhibit strong and negative preferences towards the automation of the service delivery process. In addition to that, respondents were very strongly opposed towards hotels without international certification standards for their operations. On the opposite side, tourists expressed very strong and positive preferences towards water management policies (particularly policies aiming to reduce and reuse water resources). Finally, respondents exhibited strong and positive preferences towards different energy-saving technologies within hotels. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Hospitality Industry in the 21st Century)

18 pages, 954 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Innovative Behaviors, Employee Creativity, and Sustainable Competitive Advantage: A Moderated Mediation

by Servet Nasifoglu Elidemir, Ali Ozturen and Steven W. Bayighomog

Sustainability 2020, 12(8), 3295; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12083295 - 17 Apr 2020

Cited by 62 | Viewed by 10445

Abstract

It is challenging for enterprises that lack innovation and creativity to survive successfully in the market. Employee top role performance is not always sufficient to gain a competitive advantage, in which innovative behaviors and creativity can be counted as necessary ingredients to build. This study proposed and tested employee innovative behaviors (IB) and creativity as mediator and moderator, respectively, of the impact of high-performance work practices (HPWPs) on sustainable competitive advantage (CA). The resource-based view and job demands resources model provided the theoretical underpinnings for the developed hypotheses that were tested using a sample of 323 customer-contact employees of 4- and 5-star hotels. The results indicated that HPWP indirectly predicted CA via IB. Also, creativity moderated the impact of HPWPs on innovative behaviors positively and on competitive advantage negatively. Employee innovative behaviors can generate substantial returns to service organizations competing with quasi-homogeneous end-products. The relevant theoretical and practical implications are further discussed. The scope of the study calls for caution in the generalizability of the overall findings. The research acknowledges the need to extend the findings by explicitly accounting for national cultural profiles. This study fills the dearth of research in service innovation in the hotel industry by testing the mediating effect of IB on the HPWPs CA nexus and reveals the moderating role that employee creative traits have in these relationships. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Hospitality Industry in the 21st Century)

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38 pages, 1643 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Bridging the Generational Gap in the Hospitality Industry: Reverse Mentoring—An Innovative Talent Management Practice for Present and Future Generations of Employees

by Laura Cismaru and Ray Iunius

Sustainability 2020, 12(1), 263; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12010263 - 28 Dec 2019

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 11431

Abstract

In the present generational context, talent management approaches and practices have evolved from the stage of “war for talent”, defined by competitiveness and elitism, to a more collaborative and inclusive “post-war stage”. Innovative solutions are increasingly important. In this framework, the main aim of the paper is to confirm that reverse mentoring, a talent management practice which appeared as a response to the necessity to bridge the present generational gap, can be considered a valuable approach in hospitality. Two case studies on the successful implementation of reverse mentoring in Swiss hospitality are presented: the Shadow Comex (Accor) and the ExCom-Y (Mövenpick). Results of a focus-group discussion on the topic of identifying the attitudes and opinions of Romanian employees regarding the implementation of reverse mentoring in hotels are further analyzed. Results support the idea that reverse mentoring has developed and offers great potential for innovation. The present study offers interesting and useful ideas to companies in hospitality on how to implement reverse mentoring. Results from the group discussion demonstrate that Romanian employees have high expectations and innovative approaches regarding the implementation of reverse mentoring, similar to the employees from Switzerland, but they lack trust in their employers regarding the real possibility to implement it. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Hospitality Industry in the 21st Century)

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16 pages, 2482 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Pricing and Service Level Decisions under a Sharing Product and Consumers’ Variety-Seeking Behavior

by Zhenfeng Liu, Jian Feng and Bin Liu

Sustainability 2019, 11(24), 6951; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11246951 - 05 Dec 2019

Cited by 63 | Viewed by 4328

Abstract

We developed a two-period duopoly model to show how consumers’ variety-seeking behavior affects the pricing and service level decisions of a traditional product and a sharing product. Our analysis revealed that, without considering the consumers’ variety-seeking behavior, the traditional product attracted consumers with a high level of service and high price, while the sharing product attracted consumers with a low level of service and low price. When we only considered variety-seeking behavior and did not adjust the service level, the product with the low level of service benefited from the consumers’ variety-seeking behavior, while the product with the high level of service lost profits. When we considered the variety-seeking behavior and adjusted the service level as well as the price, the sharing product was attractive to variety-seeking consumers and it gained a greater competitive advantage over the traditional product. For two periods, the number of variety-seeking consumers who switched from buying traditional products to buying sharing products was greater than those who switched from buying sharing products to buying traditional products. Furthermore, we found that when the consumers’ variety-seeking behavior was not obvious, the number of consumers shifting from the traditional product increased monotonically. In contrast, when the variety-seeking behavior was obvious, the number of consumers shifting from the traditional product decreased monotonically. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Hospitality Industry in the 21st Century)

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12 pages, 1098 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Efficiency of Cooperation between the Participants in the Supply Chain in the Tourism-Related Branch of Industry in Relation to Client Satisfaction

by Katarzyna Kozicka, Sebastian Kot and I Gede Riana

Sustainability 2019, 11(17), 4716; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11174716 - 29 Aug 2019

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2795

Abstract

Managing a tourism supply chain is predominantly focused on managing a tourism-specific product that can be perceived as all kinds of goods and services utilized by tourists during their trips. The predominant goal of this article is to empirically identify the level of engagement of entities operating in the tourism-oriented branch of industry concerning the satisfaction of end-customers with the offered tourism-related services and products. Within the scope of this study, the statistical relevance of elements of active cooperation within a tourism-specific supply chain was analyzed. Empirical examinations covered the assessment of the cooperation within the framework of the tourism-oriented supply chain and its impact on consumer satisfaction. A research questionnaire was utilized to meet examination-specific goals. Theoretical considerations and the analysis of branches of industry in relation to the available statistical data showed that tourist-oriented supply chain covers various entities, the engagement of which may have a factual impact on the efficiency of managing the entire chain, as well as on the overall client satisfaction, improving tourism sustainability. The obtained results clearly showed that the examined entities considered the analyzed cooperation aspects to be very important with regard to the supply chain management. Said aspects included the total length of cooperation within the framework of a particular supply chain, which, according to the examined entities, directly translated into the quality of cooperation—to either significant or very significant extent, as well as making it much easier to solve certain problems that were strictly connected with the provision of tourism-oriented services. Yet another aspect of cooperation that was touched upon was the transfer of the so-called know-how between the entities engaged in a given supply chain. As proven by the examination, 70% of the surveyed entities claimed that it was of significant or very significant importance. The last analyzed aspect of cooperation were relations between the supply chain-specific partners and their impact on the satisfaction of end customers. According to over half of the sample (61.54%), decent relations between supply chain participants affected the satisfaction of end customers to a notable extent. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Hospitality Industry in the 21st Century)

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19 pages, 1697 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Improving Millennial Employee Well-Being and Task Performance in the Hospitality Industry: The Interactive Effects of HRM and Responsible Leadership

by Jie He, Alastair M. Morrison and Hao Zhang

Sustainability 2019, 11(16), 4410; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11164410 - 15 Aug 2019

Cited by 46 | Viewed by 11199

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine the influence of organizations on millennial (born 1981–2000) employee well-being and task performance in the hospitality industry. Millennial employees are becoming the main workforce in hotels and their well-being is drawing greater attention in research and practice. Prior studies suggest that human resource management (HRM) bridges the organization and employees and has a significant influence on employee well-being in the hospitality industry. Additionally, the supervisor’s responsible leadership is a key factor influencing employees in a changing workforce. However, how do HRM and responsible leadership contribute to millennial employee well-being? Can employee well-being make a difference in the hospitality industry? Those questions remain unanswered. To address the two questions, this research aims to examine the interaction effects of HRM and responsible leadership on millennial employee well-being and the mediating effect of well-being between the HRM and responsible leadership on employee performance. The research hypotheses were tested with multiple linear regression analysis based on a survey of 243 millennial employees in the Chinese hospitality industry. The results indicated that HRM and responsible leadership have positive impacts on millennial employee well-being, which could improve task performance in the hospitality sector. In addition, responsible leadership strengthens the positive effect of HRM on employee well-being and task performance. In addition, the interaction effects of HRM and responsible leadership on performance are mediated by employee well-being. It is of practical value for hotels to know that millennial employee well-being can be fostered through improving HRM and responsible leadership. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Hospitality Industry in the 21st Century)

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